Daily Gold Update

Source:Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

AustinGold gained 0.5% to close at a one-week high above $1,208 as escalating trade-war tensions between the US and China pressured the dollar and boosted demand for safe havens.

China is levying new tariffs on $60 billion in US goods, responding to President Trump's announcement on Monday that an additional $200 billion in Chinese goods will be subject to duties. In tit-for-tat retaliation, the President today said another $267 billion in goods will be tariffed, bringing the total to more than $500 billion, essentially all Chinese imports.

The dollar slipped 0.1% on the new trade tensions, signaling that traders are beginning to see the conflict as a negative for US growth, perhaps limiting the Fed's ability to raise interest rates twice more this year.

As reported by MarketWatch, commercial traders on Comex have shifted positioning to net-long on gold for the first time in 17 years, meaning they expect prices to rise long-term. The last time commercials were net long was 2001, when gold was still under $300 an ounce.

Unlike hedge funds and other speculators, which place bets to generate short-term profits, "gold commercials" use futures to execute central bank directives, hedge jewelry inventories, and offset risk in cash markets, for example. Considered industry experts, commercials are view as the "smart money" by other traders.

The other precious metals were also higher, with silver rising 0.7% while platinum and palladium climbed 0.9% and 2.6%, respectively.

At the Comex close: December gold gained $5.40 to $1,208.30; December silver rose 7 cents to $14.28; October platinum added $7, to $821.90; and December palladium jumped $26 to $1,030.80 an ounce.